California's "Campaign Reform Initiative" (CRI), a ballot
measure to ban foreign contributions to state and local political campaigns
and require employers and labor unions to receive annual written approval
from employees for mandatory payroll deductions that fund state and local
political activity, is whipping organized labor into a frenzy at the same
time it is receiving several important political endorsements.

The CRI is expected to appear on the June, 1998 California ballot.
California Pride, a publication of the state affiliate of the AFL-CIO labor
union, quotes a member who identifies the CRI "the most dangerous political
threat facing us."

Creating an opposition strategy to the CRI is rumored to be one
of the main issues on the agenda of an AFL-CIO executive board meeting to
be held on Tuesday, December 9th at the Executive Plaza Hotel in Chicago.
Union leaders in California, including those representing the AFL-CIO,
have already pledged to spend between $20 and $25 million to fund efforts
to defeat the CRI. When asked about the Tuesday meeting, AFL-CIO representatives
contacted by Political Money Monitor refused to comment on "internal
matters."

Despite union opposition, the CRI is gaining the support of elected
leaders both in California and across the nation. At a meeting of the Republican
Governors Association in Miami last month, the nation's 32 Republican governors
unanimously endorsed a resolution that read, in part, "America's Republican
Governors support the goals of the Campaign Reform Initiative in California
and similar measures proposed throughout the nation, and call on Congress
and the President to enact legislation establishing these worthy ideals."
In California, in addition to the dozens of state legislators and members
of the state's congressional delegation, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors
also voted unanimously to support the CRI.

Charges Delivered for UPS Strike Retribution; Teamsters Claim
to Spend Only 66 Cents of Member Dues on Politics

Attorneys for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
filed charges against the national Teamsters union and its Colorado affiliate
on December 3rd, alleging that the union participated in "illegal union
retribution." The charges, filed with the National Labor Relations
Board, were made on behalf of eight United Parcel Service (UPS) employees
who chose to work rather than participate in the Teamster-organized strike
against the shipping company last August.

According to the Foundation complaint, after the employees resigned
their membership in the union, they formally objected to the use of their
still-mandatory dues for political and other non-bargaining activities.
They requested a refund of the portion of their dues payment that was not
used to conduct bargaining-related activities. In response, however, union
officials only reduced their forced monthly payment by 66 cents. Union
leaders further violated the law by refusing worker requests for the union
to provide financial disclosures of expenses.

"All too often, workers attempt to cut off the use of their
forced dues for politics only to discover that union chiefs stonewall access
to union books to continue diverting worker's payments into their massive
political machine," said Stefan Gleason, director of legal information
for the Foundation. "In this case, union officials are laughing off
workers' legal rights altogether."

The Foundation complaint also alleges the Teamsters contract with
UPS is invalid since it contains an illegal "union security" clause
requiring employees be union members "in good standing," that
fines levied against the employees are illegal and that the union attempted
to assess illegal "re-initiation fees."

Campaign Finance Factoids

Union Still Deluging Democrats With "Soft Money"

During the first six months of 1997, "soft money" donations
to the Democratic Party made by organized labor totaled $934,454. This
amounted to 91% of organized labor's "soft money" expenditures
during that time. The Republican Party, by contrast, received only $90,500.
Common Cause reports that half of the top six Democrat "soft money"
donors are labor unions - the Communications Workers of America, the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers - that gave a combined total of $381,154.

Labor Assumes Leadership of Congressional Democrats

William Safire (from his column): "'New' Democrats have been routed
by the old. The Democratic Party is now America's Labor Party...John Sweeney,
boss of the AFL-CIO, made [the defeat of NAFTA 'fast track' authority] happen.
He had the money, the troops and the clout to call the shots. One Clinton
blunder was to blurt out the truth about Sweeney's domination. 'I wish
we could have a secret vote in the Congress - we'd pass it three or four
to one' was taken by insulted House Democrats to mean their votes were sold
for union money or cast in fear of union punishment."

Political Money Monitor is published by The National
Center for Public Policy Research to provide information on campaign finance
and political choice issues. Coverage of an event or article in Political
Money Monitor does not imply endorsement by The National Center for Public
Policy Research. Copyright 1997 The National Center for Public Policy Research.
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is credited. ###